Dr Audrey Wood

Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education

Audrey WoodI joined the team at the University of Bedfordshire in 2020. Prior to this I was a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education at the University of Huddersfield where I taught on a selection of primary and secondary initial teacher education courses and was the course tutor for the Secondary English PGCE programme. I was also course manager for primary and secondary blended learning and employment-based ITE courses, including teaching apprenticeships and the Troops to Teachers course, and supervised dissertations for students on the BA in Childhood Studies and MA in Education courses. Before moving into teacher education I taught secondary English in both London and rural comprehensive schools for fifteen years in a variety of middle leadership roles.

Prior to teaching, I had a successful career in adult mental health and general nursing, specialising in Accident and Emergency care. This insider understanding of the challenges faced by those leaving an already established career to begin a completely new one created the foundations for my PhD study, which is a longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis focusing on the experiences of career changers from the military into secondary school teaching on the Troops to Teachers programme.

Other References

Qualifications

  • PhD Teacher Education - University of Huddersfield
  • MSt Advanced Subject Teaching, English (Distinction) - University of Cambridge
  • MRes English - University of Greenwich
  • BA (Hons) English - University of Greenwich
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching Expertise

  • Joint Course-Coordinator Secondary PGCE
  • Course leader for Secondary English PGCE
  • Unit coordinator for English: theory and practice on BAAEd

Research Interests

  • The experiences of career changers into secondary school teaching
  • The development of teacher identity
  • Approaches to teaching reading, writing and oracy in the English classroom

Research Projects

  • Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) ‘Narrowing the gap in reading attainment for disadvantaged pupils’: A report into the impact of reading interventions in schools to support disadvantaged children.
  • Price, J., Salter, E., Wood, A., Woodhouse, F., & Zsargo, L. (2020). Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF)'Narrowing the gap in reading attainment for disadvantaged pupils': A report into the impact of reading interventions in schools to support disadvantaged children. Available at: https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/publications/strategic-school-improvement-fund-ssif-narrowing-the-gap-in-readi.

External Roles

  • External Examiner for English PGCE, Liverpool Hope University (current)
  • External Examiner for English PGCE, University of Hull (2017-2021)
  • External moderator for TKAT SCITT (2016-18)

Publications

  • Naylor, A. & Wood, A.B. (2012) Teaching Poetry: Reading and responding to poetry in the secondary classroom. London: Routledge
  • Wood, A. B., Price, J., Salter, E., Woodhouse, F., & Zsargo, L. (2021). Implementing reading interventions to support disadvantaged children in England: insights from a process evaluation. Educational Review, 1-19. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131911.2020.1866500
  • Wood, A.B. (2017), Classroom-based action research with secondary school students of English Literature: A teacher-researcher’s reflection, English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 16:1,72-84. DOI: 10.1108/ETPC-08-2016-0100
  • Wood, A.B. (2017) Pre‐twentieth century literature in the Year 9 classroom: Student responses to different teaching approaches, English in Education, 51:3, 308-326, DOI: 10.1080/04250494.2017.11964032
  • Wood, A.B. (2016) Along the write lines: A case study exploring activities to enable creative writing in a Secondary English classroom, English in Education, 50:2, 130-147, DOI: 10.1111/eie.12099

Contact Details

T: +44 (0)1234 793 468
E: Audrey.Wood@beds.ac.uk